Replacement
by SuperGroverAway
Summary: A pack of unicorns have just been defeated, their magical hair has been successfully retrieved, and the Shack is safe. But in spite of this clear-cut victory, Mabel's spirits aren't really riding all that high. Wendy tries to think up a way to cheer the tween. A post-"The Last Mabelcorn" story.


Here's a post-"The Last Mabelcorn" story, Nothing much, just a little idea that I felt the need to put into words and throw up here on the site because I can't stop making cute things for the life of me. As usual, hope you enjoy! Reviews and comments are always appreciated (and apologies for the usual weird grammar and spelling errors that always seem to escape my notice when I'm proofreading). - **SGA**

* * *

Having helped take down a gang of unicorns in an epic brawl, Wendy had been feeling pretty pleased with herself as she tried to head home for the day. However, she had decided to set off just as Ford and the twins finished setting up the protective barrier around the Mystery Shack. Now that he didn't have to worry about that anymore, Dipper Pines could now turn his attention to other things; like finally noticing that his best friend seemed to be the most battered of all four of the girls. Before Wendy knew it she had been herded right back inside by the neurotic tween and seated in the kitchen.

"I know we have at least one in here…..where did it….got it!" After fetching an ice-pack from the back of the freezer, Dipper raced back to the lanky teen and passed it into her hands. As she pressed it against her massive black eye, she had to admit that it felt good. Still, she couldn't help but have a little fun with the wound-up twelve-year-old.

"Give it to me straight, doc…..am I gonna make it?" She asked mock-worriedly. Dipper went quiet and fidgeted sheepishly until she gave him a reassuring punch in the shoulder. "Chill."

"Sorry." He grinned weakly. "I guess I'm kinda going a little overboard, huh?"

"Nah. I think I'd probably be worried if you weren't freaking out." She joked.

Thankfully it looked like her other hurts were nothing more than a bunch of cuts, scratches, and bruises that would all vanish in a few days time. But for the sake of her little medic's obvious anxiety, she let him fuss a little more.

"Yo, Mabes!" She spotted the other Pines sibling passing by out of the corner of her eye. Mabel stopped and turned. Her arms were loaded to capacity with a mix of things from her room. The teenager didn't pay this much attention at first as she flashed a thumbs up. "You ruled today!"

"Thanks. Yeah, I….I totally did it." Her lackluster reply took both her twin and friend by surprise. It definitely wasn't what they expected from a girl who had marched in only half an hour earlier splattered with rainbow-colored blood while triumphantly wearing the biggest smile of her entire life.

"You okay?" The teen asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." She fibbed. All her former jubilance had completely worn off. "Just, uh...need to go take care of something."

Together the two puzzledly watched as she plodded outside with the enthusiasm of a condemned prisoner on their way to the gallows.

"Uh….what's with her?" Wendy asked. .

"I'm not sure." Dipper admitted. What he did know for sure was that he didn't like what he saw, and neither did Wendy. They headed over to the kitchen window to watch. Mabel headed over to the trash cans and set her load on the ground. It was a varied assortment of notebooks, drawings, posters, a few folders, hair clips, several shirts, a spare nightie, and several other odds and ends that she began placing into the garbage.

"Ooohhh, no." Dipper groaned once he figured it out.

"What do you mean oh no? What's happening?" Wendy asked. Her friend wordlessly pointed, and she took a harder look at the pile of paraphernalia.

Unicorns. It was literally everything everything she owned that had a unicorn on it. Graceful, beautiful, stylish, sparkly unicorns of all colors and sizes running majestically, rearing up on their hind legs or swishing silken manes. And now every single one of them was going on a one-way trip to the dump.

Wendy could see what was going on, yet she still didn't completely get why the little brunette looked so pained as she threw it all out handful by ultra-reluctant handful. "Dude, what's her deal? I mean, she just found out that they're just jerks with horns."

"Um….well, yeah." Dipper honestly didn't know how to respond to this, besides the raised eyebrow he gave her.

Mabel meanwhile had reached the last item in her throwaway pile. She picked up the plush stuffed unicorn and dawdled with it for a little bit, gazing into its plastic bead-eyes as she fiddled with its a mighty sigh she gave it a last hug.

"Don't forget to buy my unicorn fantasy beauty salon for only $49.99!" The toy adorably advertised. Mabel lingeringly cuddled away, holding it tight like a mother saying goodbye to her child.

"Bye, Princess Love-a-corn." She mumbled, as if the entire spectacle wasn't already heartbreaking enough. As the little brunette gently placed it on top of the trash, Wendy finally understood. If she were Mabel, lover of all things beautiful, shiny and glittery, then she probably wouldn't take today's unpleasant discovery all that well either.

"Oh, _man_."

Now that the deed was done, Mabel unhappily plodded back inside. This time she didn't even bother looking their way as she passed by the kitchen and started plodding up the stairs to nurse crushed illusions.

Dipper passed Wendy a fidgety glance. "Hey, so….is it okay if...I really gotta-"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure." She read him immediately. "Sorry about-"

"No, no, it's okay. I justa…." He clearly felt bad about just leaving her. "I mean, if' you're fine…."

"Dude, I'll live." She laughed at the hyper-dutiful sibling and gave him a shove. "Just go be a brother, okay?"

Dipper shot off to tend to his downtrodden twin. Wendy decided that with nothing else to do, she might as well head out for real this time. .

After exiting through the back of the Shack, she stopped to look over the trashed paraphernalia. It was a shame. No kid should have their dreams crushed like this. Especially not Mabel of all people. The more she thought about it, the more the injustice got under her skin. She couldn't help it. She loved both the twins equally, but differently, and when it came to Mabel….well, after growing up in a house of all boys, she had always wanted a little sister for as long as she she had been outnumbered in her own clan.

As the teen wracked her brain, she picked up began to fidget with the stuffed unicorn. She accidentally squeezed it it, and it immediately lit up and sweetly demanded, "Tell your parents to buy you my uni-convertible for Christmas!"

The teen made a face. These rotten excuses for horses seemed to be the worst no matter what form they took. For a moment Wendy imagined marching into the woods, dragging one of the unicorns and making it apologize. As much as she personally enjoyed the fantasy, she quickly quashed the idea. The last thing the little brunette would probably want is one of the creatures she used to love so much being dragged all bruised and battered up to the front door.

"Buy the complete collection of my seasonal summer hats! Only $15.00 each!" The toy chirped. Wendy kept on thinking…

* * *

The next morning found the Pines twins out on the back porch. Mabel sat on the edge with Waddles dozing by her side and a brand new knitting project in her lap. Dipper kept her company as he lay on the weatherbeaten sofa and worked through another book from the Sibling Brothers series (The Case of the Missing Case of Cases).

"Hey dorks!" A lanky flannel-clad teen appeared out of the surrounding woods and pulled up in her bike.

"Oh, Wendy! Hey!" Dipper didn't wait long at all before checking, "So, uh, how you feeling?"

"Doing fine. Thanks, Dr. Pines." Wendy got in a good rib. She was indeed looking a lot better for wear. Granted, her eye was still surrounded by a thick ring by black and purple bruising, but at least she could see out of it again. As she removed her helmet, Mabl gave her nothing more than a mere wave and a smile, and not her usual ear-to-ear grin either.

Wendy sauntered up and looked over her friend's latest project. Her sweater from yesterday had been meticulously scrubbed cleaned of unicorn blood. Now the self-proclaimed arts and crafts master was hard at work fixing the fresh hole by knitting in a single flower instead.

The teen looked to Dipper, who exasperatedly shook his head. It looked like last night hadn't been an easy one for him. She smiled and motioned for him to just wait and watch before she took a seat next to his subdued sister.

"Hey. How you doing?"

"Okay." Mabel replied with a shrug.

"Still feeling pretty bummed about yesterday, huh?" Wendy asked. The tween paused.

"Kinda, yeah." She softly admitted. "I mean, I know the Shack's safe now 'because we got the hair and stuff...but…"

Meanwhile, a hungry crow was nosing around the trash. As it poked about, it unwittingly stepped on a certain annoying plush toy, making it light up and advertise, "Buy my entire line of-"

"Get out of here!" Dipper hurriedly shooed the bird off. "C'mon, get out! Go!"

Wendy burst out laughing. That turned out to be just the segue she needed. "So a friend of mine heard you were looking for a new roommate…."

Mabel curiously watched on. The teen reached into her backpack, and out came a small pink stuffed rabbit. It was a little dusty after several years living in the back of her closet, plus it had a little loving wear and tear, but otherwise it was still very cuddly. Wendy had even taken the trouble to tie a ribbon around one of its ears.

Mabel clapped her hands over her rosy cheeks. "Is that…?"

"Lou-Lou here's pretty chill." Wendy vouched. "Plus, in all the years I've known her she's never bugged me to buy anything, ever."

The gesture was simple, silly, and exactly what Mabel needed. In a heartbeat she was suddenly herself again, beaming brightly with her trademark smile. After almost hugging the stuffing out of her gift she proceeded to almost crush her friend's ribs.

"Don't let a bunch of horses with make-up get to you, okay?" She ruffled the tween's hair and gave it to her straight. "You're awesome, they're the worst, forget about them."

"Already forgetting!"" Mabel happily stuffed "Lou-Lou" into her sweater. The tween immediately brightened up with a burst of inspiration."Oh! Oooh, wait!"

Quick as could be, she vanished inside. As soon as she disappeared Dipper hopped off the old sofa with a gasp of relief.

"Thank you." The appreciative smile on his face put a fat grin on hers. Wendy chuckled and playfully tugged his cap brim down.

"I do what I can."

"So, how'd you think of that?"

"Easy. I decided to to give the Mabel way a try." The short conversation was brought to an end when an eager-faced brunette reappeared.

"Trade tiiiiiime!" The impossibly sweet girl whooped, ready to reciprocate.

"It's cool, you seriously don't-" Wendy was startled by the decrepit puppet that was shoved at her. It's strange smile and unfocused stare made it look like it was quietly scheming up ways to steal away her soul.

"Oh, no." Dipper instinctively averted his eye from the creepy toys."No, no, no! Not _him_! Mabel, not-"

"His name's Bear-O!" Mabel eagerly introduced her adored childhood puppet. Five seconds was all it took until regret set in. "Actually…..uh, you know what? Maaaaybe…..maybe Mister Rhino would be a better fit. He's tough, like you!"

"Uh, sure. No problem." Wendy greenlighted her with a nod.

"Thank you!" She hugged her tightly around the waist, then raced back into the Shack.

"I'm so, so sorry you had to see that." Dipper was genuinely apologetic.

"Actually…..I think I kinda wish she let me keep it." The lanky teen confessed to her friend. "I feel like it would be awesome for creeping out my brothers."

Dipper shuddered so hard that he got a snort out of her. "Oh, you seriously have no idea….."


End file.
